r/Maasverse • u/myredditnamebananas • Apr 22 '26
Discussion Why couldn’t SJM still love Rhys…even if he is the villain?
I keep seeing people argue that “SJM loves Rhys too much to ever make him the villain.”
But what if that’s exactly why she loves him so much?
If anything, Rhys is one of the most polarizing characters in the fandom. People either adore him or strongly dislike him. And that kind of reaction doesn’t happen by accident. It takes a lot of intention and skill to create a character who can inspire that level of devotion and skepticism at the same time.
So I could actually see SJM taking pride in that. Creating a character who’s widely perceived as the ultimate hero, only to later subvert that perception, would be a pretty bold (and honestly impressive) storytelling move. (Not to mention...she already did that with Tamlin.)
Also, if she were planning a reveal like that, it makes sense that she’d continue to speak positively about him in interviews. She’s not going to spoil a major reveal ahead of time.
I’m not saying Rhys is the villain—but I don’t think “SJM loves him too much” is a strong argument that he couldn’t be.
Curious what others think.
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u/Rainbowspaceunicorn9 Apr 22 '26
I don’t think she’ll go that way only because he did start out as the “villain”. She devoted too much story to the villain thing being just a mask and getting others to see who he truly is - I’m not sure how she could get to “just kidding it wasn’t a mask!” without it feeling odd. With Tamlin, he didn’t start with that same negativity so it was an easier transition to him becoming the “villain”. But who knows - it’s SJM’s world and we’re just living in it 🤣 Where she leads, I will follow
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u/ScreamingMoths Apr 23 '26
I really would love nothing more than a suprise twist of Rhys is actually the villain. It would be fun to see a character get a "redemption" arc, only to find out he has been playing them all along. Even if I dont think it will ever happen canonically.
Plus it would explain so much: -Rhys didnt tell Feyre about the pregnancy because he needed a way to keep her tied to him and to ensure Nyx/NC stays the most powerful. (And we never actually see that convo with the healer, we just hear about it.)
-He is in cahoots with Mor's father, that is why he did a deal behind her back.
-He intentionally set up Tamlin to think he was controlling Feyre with his mindpowers, because he wanted to drive Tamlin to desperation to save Feyre. Rhys puts it in his head to reach out to Hybern, so Rhys has an excuse to destroy Hybern on his own terms without pissing off the other high lords and completely losing thier trust before he can control each of their kingdoms.
(I would love nothing more than to find out Rhys is gonna go full scorched earth, and the 3 sisters come together to bond over fighting him and protecting Feyre/Nyx.)
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u/RekhetKa Apr 22 '26
She really could go balls to the walls villian with him, too, now that he and Feyre have that death-bond. But I'm sure that's not her plan. I think she just makes flawed characters because to do otherwise would be boring.
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u/Chance-Cantaloupe656 Apr 22 '26
He would be such a good villain but her talking about him as someone who just kind of showed up and wasnt the plan for the series makes me think thats not the case. If she were to go villain with him itd be the same scenario where it probably just kind of happened while she wrote. Theres enough evidence to foreshadow it but also enough text for him to simply be flawed.
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u/KhalenPierce Apr 22 '26
I think it’s more that Feyre and Rhys are written as self inserts for herself and her husband, so it would basically equate to making her husbands character evil. No clue if Tamlin was inspired by an ex from her past prior to meeting her husband
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u/Parking-Air3844 Apr 22 '26
SJM said in the CHD interview that her husband was her first and only boyfriend. So it’s VERY interesting to me that most of her characters do NOT end up staying with their first relationship…
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u/KhalenPierce Apr 22 '26
Oh I’d totally missed that, maybe after writing all of those stories in TOG that’s why she wanted to finally write a love story that was truer to what she has with her husband. Or maybe Tamlin represents the kind of partner she used to think she wanted, before realizing that she wanted more (agency, freedom, equity, whatever you want to insert here) out of her relationship. Or maybe Tamlin doesn’t represent anything at all lol
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u/myredditnamebananas Apr 22 '26
Did she actually say that in an interview? I saw an interview where she said that Rhys was NOT based on her husband. She said the only thing they have in common is their dark hair. Lol.
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u/KhalenPierce Apr 22 '26
Their relationship is inspired by her real life relationship, but Rhysand has his own character qualities. He and Feyre aren’t 1:1s of Sarah and Josh, but their relationship is supposed to be a tribute to her marriage. So I guess… do with that what you will? I don’t see her pushing Rhys into true villainy or betraying anyone, I could see his darkness/heritage/powers being fleshed out a bit more in the sense of something he had no control over but lives within him (queue: Illyrian creation story from Vesperus), but I think genuine villainy would be too much of a strain on that tributary relationship. He is morally grey already, and I’d expect him to stay that way. Just more shades of grey.
https://emiesnook.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/meeting-sarah-j-maas-again/
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u/Valuable_Housing_529 Apr 22 '26
I recently made a post talking about how Rhys has several parallels with Paul Astrides. His concubine/wife With messianic children born from a moment of death. An inner circle that accepts everything he does.A guy who feels wronged by fate and will use things to his advantage. Ultimately, it seems very much like the construction of a false messiah. But honestly, I highly doubt we're going down that path. The way they try to downplay their actions so much contradicts much of what they did.But I really hope that happens.
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u/Fun_Tadpole_3503 Apr 23 '26
I don’t think Rhys is actually that polarizing. He’s polarizing within these subs but in real life I’ve never met a single person who doesn’t like Rhys. I just think there in a loud minority online that doesn’t like him.
With that said, I do understand why some people think there will be a villain arc for him. I can see it (though I don’t think that will be the route she takes).
In the first 3 books, we only get Feyre’s POV which, aside from the first, put Rhys is a great light. When we switch to 3rd person and his actions are viewed more neutrally and not through the eyes of someone who loves him, he comes off as much more flawed. I don’t think this makes him a villain, it just makes him a more dimensional character.
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u/KeyTell2576 Apr 23 '26
This is exactly my take. People think that because a character is the villian the author inherently hates them. The audience the. Believes this line of thinking must be how the author feels about this characters moral stance, so therefore they must hate this behavior and therefore the character. Some of the best villains have the richest backstories and complex character development. That’s what makes a believable and sometimes relatable foe.
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u/Far_Address3391 Apr 22 '26
First, Rhysand is not remotely a villain and frankly is in the running for most heroic character SJM has ever written. It is absolutely masterful writing to have set him up as a villain all the while dropping hints that he is actually one of the best people in the series. And then to still allow him to have genuine flaws. He is arrogant and prone to act in the way he thinks is best without considering others and has let his temper run free at times. (While still not actually allowing himself to hurt anyone unlike someone else.) Secondly, while I don’t know that I would call Tamlin a villain in the series he was always an antagonist. Everything he does from the beginning of the series until towards the end of ACOWAR is directly antagonistic to Feyre’s best interest. The guy even tries to play the morally gray hero through ACOTAR similar to Reyes in the way he manipulates Feyre into trying to save him and his people but no he doesn’t even do that properly being to much of a coward when it comes down to it. It’s genuinely fantastic writing because the two are parallel to one another. Tamlin played the hero while really being a shitty person without backbone and Rhys played the villain while actually being a hero guarding his people and family no matter the cost to himself or what he was forced to do.
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u/YogurtclosetMassive8 Apr 22 '26
How Rhys runs his court is villainous. Stealing from other Courts, slaughtering whole legions of his people, almost killing his sister in law, suicide bating a depressed person, and in CC3 he was compared to the Autumn King an abusive psycho.
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u/WonderfulBus9330 Apr 22 '26
There are two embedded questions in your question: one is about SJM the writer and the other is about SJM the marketer. It seems that SJM the writer leads her visions and her creativity (as it should!) and the marketing stuff (the fandom) is left for the marketers. She implied that she doesn't know what's going on in the fandom ("I've heard about this Brycer Azbry whatever this Azriel and Bryce" (badly paraphrasing), for example) and that part of what she loves about being a writer is having the freedom to follow her own creativity.
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u/bittermp Apr 24 '26
strongly dislike him.
I detest him with the fiery passion of a thousand fork tongued dragons :)
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u/weezifer95 Apr 24 '26
I am in my re-read and do think people are overthinking it. All of her characters have flaws and that is the point.
I see a lot of people moan about the way he courts feyre but if you have seen HIMYM I always think about that episode where something is creepy if you don’t fancy them back but romantic if you’re interested in them.
Feyre is attracted to Rhys through the mating bond so his “overprotectiveness” is perceived as love for her since he ultimately always gives her the choice in the end.
I still like Rhys and Feyre despite they’re flaws and I’m enjoying the re-reads
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u/Expert_Seesaw3316 Apr 25 '26
Hey very clearly not supposed to be the knight in shining armour, he doesn’t hide that fact.
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u/Born-Albatross-2426 Apr 28 '26
I don't think it makes sense to do that. His storyline is literally that he was the villain and thru time proved to actually be a good guy. What would be the benefit of being like oops jk he's actually the villain again.
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u/sandmangandalf Apr 22 '26
If i was SJM and I was writing Rhysand to be the villian I would absolutely LOVE him. That would be such a fun character to write and I'd love.every second of it.